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How one young farmer is fighting for farmlandHow one young farmer is fighting for farmland

Kentucky farmer J.D. Burns turns to social media and local programs to navigate farmland shortages and rising land values.

Ben Potter, Senior editor

January 24, 2025

4 Min Read
Farmer J.D. Burns
Alex Morgan Imaging

An ad popped up on Facebook in late September. It was from a farmer in northwestern Kentucky.

“Looking for land to rent/lease,” the ad simply stated. “Different rent/lease options available. References available upon request.”

The farmer is 30-year-old J.D. Burns, who has been searching for new ground to farm in an era where opportunities seem slim in his area.

“It’s a trial-and-error thing,” he admits. “It’s a way to try to put yourself out there without necessarily stepping on anybody’s toes. It will be interesting to see if we get any bites on it. I want to provide a better life for my family and ensure room for a future generation if my daughters want in.”

Living so close to Owensboro, Ky., (population 60,000) adds another wrinkle to the young farmer’s efforts. He is not only competing with other farmers but also with outside land developers.

His situation isn’t unique — farmland around the country is slowly being gobbled up by commercial developments and residential properties. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, total available farmland in the United States diminished from 954.8 million acres in 1997 down to 880.1 million acres in 2022.

Most of this change is attributed to a loss in pastureland, notes researchers with the University of Illinois.

Related:Profit strategies: Navigate shifting resources and tight margins

“Cropland has declined by only 2%, while pastureland has declined by 13%” during this period, the researchers noted in a recent Farmdoc paper. “Cropland and woodland declined by roughly 5 million acres, while pastureland declined by 65 million acres.”

Meantime, the Conservation Reserve Program locked out an additional 23 million acres of land.

Renewable energy also pressures farmland availability in some areas. According to a model developed by the American Farmland Trust, utility-scale solar projects will occupy more than 7 million acres across the lower 48 states by 2040. Approximately 83% of the projects already installed displaced farmland or ranchland.

Burns looks at this economic downturn in agriculture and sees opportunity.

“Maybe in times like this, people will want to give up more marginal ground,” he says. “Somebody else’s marginal ground might be something that I’d really want to have.”

Combine auguring grain into grain cart during harvest.

Farmland slow to fall

The availability and price of farmland is just one piece of a much larger, complex puzzle, of course. Farmers will have to navigate an increasingly uneasy landscape as the 2025 season approaches.

Farmland values take a couple of years to go down. In fact, farmland values sometimes continue to go up when commodity prices stumble.

And despite the occasional decline, they remain an almost surefire long-term investment. For example, average cropland value in 2010 was $2,700 per acre, and this year it climbed to $5,570 per acre. These statistics obviously vary widely state by state, says Jacqui Fatka, CoBank lead economist for farm supply and biofuels.

The current environment could have some silver linings for younger farmers like Burns, too, Fatka adds.

“Farmers who may be looking to retire could be ready to cash in and get out,” she says. “It’s no secret that we have an aging farm operator population, and what about those who don’t have the next generation to pass it on? Are they going to create some opportunities for new farmers to come in?”

Some companies are also working on more out-of-the box solutions, including AcreTrader. This company is essentially an investment platform for land that lasts a finite period — typically five or 10 years. At the end of the contract, the investors then resell the land. In some cases, whoever is farming that ground may have the opportunity to buy it. More than 150 such projects have occurred
to date.

Several states also have “farm link” programs that help match younger and older farmers. These programs are often mutually beneficial. Younger farmers gain access to land, gain help with financing and learn from more experienced operators. And landowners receive tax incentives and other financial benefits. They also have a chance to ease the transition into retirement.

Each matching program works
a bit differently, but the basics tend to be the same. First, participants sign up. Then, they are matched and spend some time together. This allows both parties to get to know each other better and determine
if they should link up — and how.

The nonprofit Center for Rural Affairs has a list of national and state farm link programs online at cfra.org/land-matching.

Hurry up and wait

Burns hopes to catch the right eyes on his Facebook ad and will keep his head on a swivel for other local opportunities to emerge. However, he also realizes that growing his operation should be viewed more
as a marathon and less as a sprint.

“I’ve kind of accepted the fact that it’s going to be really tough to buy anything,” he says. “In the foreseeable future, I probably won’t be buying anything — at least in our immediate area.”

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Farm Management

About the Author

Ben Potter

Senior editor, Farm Futures

Senior Editor Ben Potter brings two decades of professional agricultural communications and journalism experience to Farm Futures. He began working in the industry in the highly specific world of southern row crop production. Since that time, he has expanded his knowledge to cover a broad range of topics relevant to agriculture, including agronomy, machinery, technology, business, marketing, politics and weather. He has won several writing awards from the American Agricultural Editors Association, most recently on two features about drones and farmers who operate distilleries as a side business. Ben is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

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